Spur piston motion rotary combustion engine

ABSTRACT

A rotary combustion engine in which an annular member has within its inner surface a portion of a combustion chamber and has mounted flushly within the annular portion thereof a movable rotatable annular member having channel conduits feedable of fuel outwardly to the remaining portion of the combustion chamber formed in the curved outer surface of the inner rotatable annular member such that upon the feeding of fuel thereinto and compression of the fuel by rotatable movement of the inner annular ring member, the ignition of fuel after compression causes the inner rotatable annular member to rotate, rotation of the inner annular member causing spur pistons mounted within the annulus of the inner rotatable annular member to rotate by virtue of spurs fitting into cavities therefor along the inner surface of the inner rotatable annular member, there being gearing operatively attached to receive and transmit motion from moving parts as a result of combustion to a drive shaft.

SPUR PISTON MOTIONROTARY COMBUSTION ENGINE [76] Inventor: Joseph B. Plevyak, 19 Jefferson St.,

Newton, NJ. 07860 [22] Filed: Sept. 5, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 286,411

[52] US. Cl 123/8.35, 123/801, 123/843,

418/166, 418/165, 418/167, 418/171 [51] Int. Cl. .j. F02b 53/08 [58] Field of Search 123/845, 8.43, 8.09, 8.49,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,136,066 11/1938 Walters 123/845 2,740,386 4/1956 Crandall 418/168 X 3,034,484 5/1962 Stefancin 418/166 X 3,139,835 7/1964 Wilkinson 418/168 X 3,548,789 12/1970 Creek 418/167 X 3,237,613 3/1966 Mosovsky 123/845 3,301,233 1/1967 Dotto 123/845 3,439,654 4/1969 Campbell... 123/801 3,712,274 1/1973 Craft 123/849 3,196,856 7/1965 Ward 1 2 3/8 .01

[451 Nov. 26, 1974 Primary Examiner-Clarence R. Gordon [5 7] ABSTRACT A rotary combustion engine in which an annular member has within its inner surface a portion of a combustion chamber and has mounted flushly within the annular portion thereof a movable rotatable annular member having channel conduits feedable of fuel outwardly to the remaining portion of the combustion chamber formed in the curved outer surface of the inner rotatable annular member such that upon the feeding of fuel thereinto and compression of the fuel by rotatable movement of the inner annular ring member, the ignition of fuel after compression causes the inner rotatable annular member to rotate, rotation of the inner annular member causing spur pistons mounted within the annulus of the inner rotatable annular member to rotate by virtue of spurs fitting into cavities therefor along the inner surface of the inner rotatable annular member, there being gearing operatively attached to receive and transmit motion from moving parts as a result of combustion to a drive shaft.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures SPUR PISTON MOTION ROTARY COMBUSTION ENGINE BACKGROUND Prior to the present invention there have through the years been extensive efforts to develop workable and- /or satisfactory combustion engines such as that of US. Pat. No. 2,164,462 and later the U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,808. For example, the US. Pat. No. 2,164,462 discloses two separate rotatable members which coordinately rotate relative to one another in order to bring about a fuel induction and fuel compression cycle for the separate rotatable members respectively relative to a single spark plug which ignites the fuel. The mechanism of operation of the engine of US. Pat. No. 3,435,808 on the other hand utilizes a single intermediate rotatable member having spurs on opposite ends of the otherwise rounded portion thereof which is rotatable such that the spurs are rotatable within cavities of the separated first and third rotatable members, each of the first and third rotatable members having separate combustion cycles coordinated one with the other. Systems such as those disclosed in these two patents as well as many others possibly have not been acceptable commercially because of lack of practicality as well as many other reasons too numerous to discuss at this point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to obtain an internal combustion engine having a minimum number of moving parts and/or obtaining maximum fuel compression and/or minimal loss of power in transmission or conversion thereof to a drive shaft, and being of a practical small size, and/or having a high degree of stability and reliability and durability.

Another object is to obtain an internal combustion engine or the rotary type obtaining smoother and quieter operation and/or higher compression ratio, and/or better burn-out of gases and/or relatively greater efficiency and power.

Other objects of the invention become apparent from the preceding and following disclosure.

One or more objects of the invention are obtained by the invention as defined herein.

The invention includes broadly an internal combustion rotary engine having an outer annular casing typically of a cylindrical shape with one open end, there being mountable therewithin a rotatably movable annular ring having equally spaced along its outer surface perimeter of the ring, half of a combustion chamber in the form of a radially inwardly extending wall thereafter slanting upwardly to the surface, there being a plurality of these evenly spaced around the outer periphery, and being aligned such that it is periodically aligned with one or more ignition means such as a spark plug casing cavities constituting the remaining portion of the combustion chamber and this portion of the combustion chamber being one or more recesses in the inner annular surface of the outer annular casing. It is the combustion as it takes place after the fuel is compressed in the flushly mating opposing combustion cavities of the outer fixed member and the inner rotatable member that is provided means to utilize this same motion in order to compress the fuel and/or in order to exhaust the fuel as the case may be in a timed predetermined manner relative to the cycle of combustion.

In a variation of the invention typical thereof, there may be a single rotatable element centrically thereof mounted for eccentric rotation within the rotatable member whereby only at the point where a projection thereof causes compression of the fuel into the matched fuel cavities for later ignition to combustion.

In an alternate embodiment there are a plurality of separate rotatable elements mounted rotatably on a fixed member concentrically within the annulus of the inner rotatable member, whereby there may be a plurality of ignitions at different points within the inner rotatable member or there may be simultaneous firing at several points as may be desired.

THE FIGURES along line 2-2 of FIG. 4, with partial cut-away for better illustration of the mechanism of operation thereof.

FIG. 3 illustrates in exploded view an embodiment such as typically that of FIG. 1A, for better understanding of the relationship of stationary and movable parts and mechanism of their mounting.

FIG. 4 illustrates a view such as typically that of FIG. 1 with partial cut-away of one side, the major difference in this embodiment being that there is merely a single spur member within the inner movable rotary element, the single spurred rotatable member being eccentrically rotatable whereby there is merely a single firing position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The internal combustion engine of FIG. 1 illustrates an internal planetary arrangement of spur pinions 12' which functions to produce compression of fuel intake, with ignition taking place at high points when preferably all spurs 3 simultaneously are within recesses 11. As

. compared to a rotary engine having merely a sole single combustion place per cycle, in the arrangement of a plurality of pinions of this invention the compression and combustion action by the FIG. 1 illustrated four pinions 12 in a single cycle multiply in direct proportion to the number of additional rotatable spur pinion pistons i.e., by the multiple of four in this embodiment. Ends or ridges formed in a desired location around a' combustion ring create air pressure to expel burnt gases through outlet port(s) in the casing 6 spaced subsequent to the spark plug 5. The arrangement itself lends itself to several simple and integrated intake and" emission arrangements. The intake and emission cycles are constant in action and flow by the rotary force, and

there are no valves or associated parts capable of malfunctioning or wearing out. Accordingly, there is achieved a simplicity of design, with only a few moving parts, these parts being easily accessible for maintenance and repair, small and compact and light in weight, and due to a multiplicity of power per single cycle for rotation of the drive shaft the elimination of valve components and any other commonly associated moving parts that are commonly used in reciprocating engines are accomplished while simultaneously improving burn-out, with quieter and smoother operation and more power and efficiency. Revolvable annular chamber element 4, spark plug 5, the annular or cylindrical outer supporting casing 6, the half-fuel chamber defining walls 7a and 7b, the half-fuel chamber 8a, the second half fuel chamber 8b defined by the outer annular member walls 9a and 9b, the fuel channel 10 extending through the inner rotatable annular member 4 into the corrugated depressions l1 (corrugated recess) and the rotatable spur pinion 12 having the plurality of spurs 3 thereon, the inner support element 13 supportable of the plurality of rotatable spur pinions 12, within the defined substantially semi-circular cavities 14, port 15 extending through the body of the inner support element 13 into the respective cavities 14 between the rotating spurs 3, and the hollow fuel passage 16 concentric to the axis 1 and having extending therethrough the fuel port 17a, 17b, represent a typical combination.

FIG. 1A illustrates a similar embodiment to that of FIG. 1, excepting that there are fewer of the spurs 3a. There is shown a channel 15a (in phantom) located on an inner wall face of a wall analogous to wall 22 of FIG. 3, channel 15a serving to lengthen the time period and travel distance of a spur during which fuel may be taken into spaces between spaced-apart consecutive pinions. It is also illustrated how the rising spur 3a eventually compresses all fuel into and through a fuel compression recess analogous to recess 11' of FIG. 1 into and through an outer fuel passage (analogous to passage 10 of FIG. 1) extending into the fuel chamber (analogous to half-chamber 8a of FIG. 1) and eventually into also the casing-combustion spark-plug halfchamber (analogous to chamber 8b of FIG. 1), at

which point ignition and combustion are pretimed to occur, forcing the annular ring (analogous to element 4 of FIG. I) in the direction shown, and the moving annular rings scalloped inner surface pulls along the mated spur-(s) 3a in the'direction indicated. As in the FIG. 3 exploded view of FIG. la-type embodiment, movement of pinion 12 causes the shaft-mounted gear 18 to revolve against a meshing gear on shaft 1 and thus causes shaft 1 to rotate.

FIG. 2 illustrates a view along a plane perpendicular to the peripheral face of the annular structure, with cut-away illustrating typical arrangement of pinion gears 18. As noted above, cavities 14 of the FIGS. 1, 1A, 2, and 3 embodiment are defined by the radiallyextending legs of the support element 13, and the spurs rotate within the recess cavities 14, for the pinion spurs 3 to compress the fuel admixture within the cavity 21 and force the fuel through the passage 10 into the space 8a and 8b for combustion thereof. In the FIG. 4 embodiment, spur 3' compresses the fuel mixture in chamber 21.

The FIG. 2 embodiment, however, corresponds to that illustrated in FIG. 4 in which there is a single eccentrically rotated inner spur pinion member 12' with the plurality of spurs 3'. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 4 itwill be noted that the drive shaft 1' is centrally located but that the rotatable spurred pinion l2 revolves eccentrically as a result of the small motion conveying and mounting wheel 19a together with the other larger wheels 19b and 190. The FIG. 4-FIG. 2 embodiment otherwise functions substantially as in the illustrations of FIGS. 1, 1A, and 3.

FIG. 3 substantially corresponds to the description of FIG. 1, except that the parts areshown more in actual form and in exploded view for a better understanding of the mechanism of assembly thereof.

It should be noted that the above figures and description are merely for the purposes of illustrating the invention for a better understanding thereof and are not intended to unduly limit the invention which includes modifications and substitution of equivalents as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill.

I claim:

1. An internal combustion engine comprising in combination: an outer motor housing having a first inner circular surface defining a first annular cavity therein of circular cross-section; mounted rotatably within the first cavity a first inner member of second circular radially-outer perimeter surface defining spaced points; there being along the first circular inner surface a plurality of spaced recesses each (a) having at least one substantially upright wall extending radially outwardly from the first inner surface as one wall of the first cavity with the uprightly extending wall extending in a plane substantially transversely to curvature of the circular inner surface and (b) having a slanted wall extending angularly from the first inner surface in an intersecting direction with the substantially upright wall; there being second cavity-defining walls extending radially inwardly in intersecting directions with one-another of the walls to define a second cavity between each two consecutive ones of said spaced points, as a part of the first inner members point-defining outer perimeter second surface substantially fiushly mounted within the first circular annularly-extending inner surface; the first inner circular annular member having in transverse cross-section therethrough circular configuration defining an inner corrugated annular third surface with equally spaced second ridges and third cavities spaced therearound the third inner annular surface, there being at least one passage extending from each respective said corrugated third cavity to a corresponding second cavity defined between adjacent points of the outer periphery of the first inner circular member; mounted within the second inner annular surface of the first rotatable inner member, a rotatably mounted second inner member mounted for rotation around an axis fixedly located relative to the outer circular housing and the first inner annular rotatable member, the second inner rotatable member having a third corrugated outer perimeter surface with fourth cavities and thirdridges of corresponding dimensions to those of the third cavities and second ridges of the first rotatable inner annular surface of the inner annular member; gear means operatively connected to at least one of the first and second inner rotatable member such that motion thereof around its fixed-positioned axis is transmittable to a drive shaft; means for providing fuel to a cavity of at least one of the corrugated surfaces and means for exhausting combustion residual gases therefrom at a point diametrically across the second inner rotatable corrugated member; and the second inner rotatable corrugated member being mounted such that during revolution thereof each of the second inner rotatable members third ridges consecutively mesh with corrugation third cavities of the inner annular corrugated third surface; combustion-ignition means for igniting fuel vapors within at least one of said outer annular members spaced recesses; and an inner mounting element fixedly positioned relative to said outer annular housing and within the annulus cavity thereof concentrically thereof, the inner mounting element defining a plurality of semi-circular cavities between radially outwardly extending legs, and there being a plurality of said inner rotatable corrugated members, with one said second member mounted in each semi-circular cavity for its respective rotation.

2. An engine of claim 1, in which said inner fixedly positioned element includes a central fuel conduit having ports feedable of fuel into about each of the semicircular cavities such that upon rotation of each respectively of the inner second rotatable members within the semi-circular cavities each respectively, the fuel becomes compressed as the third ridges of the second ro-.

.defining walls.

3. An engine of claim 2 in which the second inner rotatable elements about each rotate about concentrically.

4. An engine of claim 3, in which the second inner rotatable member rotates about eccentrically. 

1. An internal combustion engine comprising in combination: an outer motor housing having a first inner circular surface defining a first annular cavity therein of circular crosssection; mounted rotatably within the first cavity a first inner member of second circular radially-outer perimeter surface defining spaced points; there being along the first circular inner surface a plurality of spaced recesses each (a) having at least one substantially upright wall extending radially outwardly from the first inner surface as one wall of the first cavity with the uprightly extending wall extending in a plane substantially transversely to curvature of the circular inner surface and (b) having a slanted wall extending angularly from the first inner surface in an intersecting direction with the substantially upright wall; there being second cavity-defining walls extending radially inwardly in intersecting directions with one-another of the walls to define a second cavity between each two consecutive ones of said spaced points, as a part of the first inner member''s point-defining outer perimeter second surface substantially flushly mounted within the first circular annularly-extending inner surface; the first inner circular annular member having in transverse cross-section therethrough circular configuration defining an inner corrugated annular third surface with equally spaced second ridges and third cavities spaced therearound the third inner annular surface, there being at least one passage extending from each respective said corrugated third cavity to a corresponding second cavity defined between adjacent points of the outer periphery of the first inner circular member; mounted within the second inner annular surface of the first rotatable inner member, a rotatably mounted second inner member mounted for rotation around an axis fixedly located relative to the outer circular housing and the first inner annular rotatable member, the second inner rotatable member having a third corrugated outer perimeter surface with fourth cavities and third ridges of corresponding dimensions to those of the third cavities and second ridges of the first rotatable inner annular surface of the inner annular member; gear means operatively connected to at least one of the first and second inner rotatable member such that motion thereof around its fixed-positioned axis is transmittable to a drive shaft; means for providing fuel to a cavity of at least one of the corrugated surfaces and means for exhausting combustion residual gases therefrom at a point diametrically across the second inner rotatable corrugated member; and the second inner rotatable corrugated member being mounted such that during revolution thereof each of the second inner rotatable member''s third ridges consecutively mesh with corrugation third cavities of the inner annular corrugated third surface; combustion-ignition means for igniting fuel vapors within at least one of said outer annular member''s spaced recesses; and an inner mounting element fixedly positioned relative to said outer annular housing and within the annulus cavity thereof concentrically thereof, the inner mounting element defining a plurality of semi-circular cavities between radially outwardly extending legs, and there being a plurality of said inner rotatable corrugated membErs, with one said second member mounted in each semi-circular cavity for its respective rotation.
 2. An engine of claim 1, in which said inner fixedly positioned element includes a central fuel conduit having ports feedable of fuel into about each of the semi-circular cavities such that upon rotation of each respectively of the inner second rotatable members within the semi-circular cavities each respectively, the fuel becomes compressed as the third ridges of the second rotatable members each within its respective semi-circular cavity moves into a corrugation third cavity within the inner annular corrugated third surface of the first inner rotatable member, said ignition means being timed to ignite compressed fuel pressed into the cavity between said spaced points whereby ignition thereof causes the first inner rotatable member to rotate by virtue of expanding-gas pressure against one of said point-defining walls.
 3. An engine of claim 2 in which the second inner rotatable elements about each rotate about concentrically.
 4. An engine of claim 3, in which the second inner rotatable member rotates about eccentrically. 